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Memphis-Based FedEx to Offer Insurance to Same-Sex Domestic Partners in 2012

Excerpt: In a move hailed by advocates of diversity and gay rights, FedEx will offer health insurance benefits for same-sex domestic partners starting Jan. 1, 2012. The shipping giant, which already offers the benefits in California and to FedEx Office employees, said the change comes at the request of employees.

Employee Assistance Programs Now Cover Host of Issues and Problems

"An employee assistance program is an employee benefit. EAP services can reduce tardiness and absences. The services can also help to change behaviors to reduce accidents, health care claims and worker disputes. Long ago, EAPs focused on drug- and alcohol-abuse problems. Now, the scope of services is much broader."

Under Financial Stress, Many Retirement Plans Need Cash, and the PBGC Does, Too

[W]hile public employee pension plans are making headlines as governments struggle to cut spending, retirement-planning experts say there is cause for concern about many private pension funds that are underfunded to meet future needs.

UAW Chief Gettelfinger Says Workers' Cost Just 10% to Build Car

Excerpt: Critics of unionized workers who say they are the core of the U.S. automakers' problems don't have a grasp of the facts, the head of the United Auto Workers contends. The labor expense to assemble a vehicle at a Ford, General Motors or Chrysler plant is about 10 percent of the total cost, said Ron Gettelfinger, president of the UAW.... Gettelfinger believes it makes no sense to blame all of the industry's problems on a group that accounts for such a small percentage of car costs. 'Some of the foreign brands operating in this country pay (workers) very close to what American firms pay,' he said.

University of Memphis Study Gauges Costs for Tennessee of Federal Health Care Reform

Health care reform will reduce the number of uninsured Tennesseans by more than half and cut uncompensated care and bad debt by $2.3 billion, but the newly insured could put a strain on the state's health care system.

2021 Changes to FedEx Health Plan Include Contribution Hikes, HSA Option

"FedEx is not increasing deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums for current medical, dental or vision plans for 2021 ... However, paycheck contributions for medical, dental and vision benefits will increase the same amount they did for 2020.... FedEx said it will spend about $2 billion for 2020 to continue covering roughly 70% of member health care costs."

Fight Your Health Plan: Appealing a Denial Can Yield Victory

Excerpt: Pursuing an appeal is not always easy, but, as the lottery commercials say, you can't win if you don't play. The key is to overcome inertia and suspend cynicism about insurance to file an appeal, and there's help available from the state and other advocates.

Sixth Circuit Denies Equitable Relief for Employer Liability Upon Union-Mandated Withdrawals from Multiemployer Plan (PDF)

"The withdrawal assessment exceeds half of Rubber Associates' annual sales in 2009, 2010, and 2011 ... The parties agree that a complete withdrawal has happened in this case, and that ERISA and the MPPAA require a contributing employer to pay withdrawal liability upon its exit from a multiemployer pension plan. The parties disagree, however, on whether we should create federal common law under ERISA to carve out special liability rules for contributing employers which are forced out of pension funds due to union-mandated withdrawal.... Allowing employers to reduce or eliminate their withdrawal liability even when faced with a union-mandated withdrawal is not essential to the promotion of fundamental ERISA policies." [United Food and Commercial Workers Union-Employer Pension Fund v. Rubber Assoc., Inc., No. 15-3434 (6th Cir. Feb. 4, 2016)]

Text of First Circuit Opinion: No Fiduciary Breach When Insurer Paid Death Benefit Into Retained Asset Account (PDF)

"[H]ere, unlike in [Merrimon v. Unum], the Plan did not state in haec verba that benefits would be paid by means of [a retained asset account (RAA)].... We do not believe that a legally significant difference exists where, as here, the Plan documents, instead of singling out RAAs as the exclusive method of payment, allowed the insurer to pay other than by a lump sum. ERISA section 404(a) does not require a fiduciary to don the commercial equivalent of sackcloth and ashes. What it does require is that the fiduciary not place its own interests ahead of those of the Plan beneficiary." [Vander Luitgaren v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, No. 13-2090 (1st Cir. Aug. 26, 2014)]

(Drug Pricing) Transparency is Dead, Long-Live (Hospital Pricing) Transparency

"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the [CMS] rules requiring pharmaceutical companies to include prices in their commercials. Only a few days later, the Washington D.C. District Court upheld the hospital transparency rules issued by CMS.... The main difference? CMS was authorized by Congress under the [ACA] to issue the hospital transparency rule.... [F]or the drug pricing rule, CMS relied on its general authority to issue rules supporting the 'efficient administration' of the Medicare and Medicaid programs." [Merck & Co. v. HHS, No. 19-5222 (D.C. Cir. Jun. 16, 2020); American Hospital Ass'n v. Azar, No. 19-3619 (D.D.C. Jun. 23, 2020)]